'Don Jon' and the New Era for Scarlett Johansson

I'm sure you all know that I am a huge Scarlett Johansson fan. But even I can admit that her film roles lately have been lacking that special something that really gets a fan like me excited. Sure, I appreciated her supporting performances in He's Just Not That Into You and Hitchcock. We Bought a Zoo was cute and charming and her turns as SHIELD agent Natasha Romanoff were cool. But Johansson hasn't had a legitimately meaty role since 2008's Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

In fact, for a while her trilogy of Woody Allen films felt more like a creative peak than the beginning of a true artist taking control of her career and moving out of sex symbol-land. She never really topped her performances in Barcelona, Match Point or Scoop. And with her subsequent roles, I was tired of thinking "wow she really made that underwritten role her own" or "true, anyone could have played that part but she did a good job."  Truth be told, I was afraid that we would never again see a truly great Scarlett Johansson performance.

The future looked bleak until Joseph Gordon-Levitt announced his directorial debut Don Jon and Scarlett Johansson was cast alongside him. What really got me excited was that he continually talked about how he wrote the part of Barbara Sugarman for her. It had been a long time since Johansson had a role that was created for her and her strengths. As Don Jon made the festival rounds, I paid close attention to what was being written about her performance. Looking for all the usual notices her about performances like "not much to do" or "sexy but underutilized," I was surprised to see reviews of her performance were pretty positive. I wouldn't say that they were completely glowing but critics seemed to appreciate her take on the rom-com addicted Jersey princess character type.

But I had to see it for myself. Not only was I not disappointed but I came out of Don Jon truly in awe of Scarlett Johansson. There was the actress I had fallen for years ago, the one I had defended on IMDb message boards and in real life. Johansson and her character fit each other to the T. Barbara is sexy, alluring, charming but it's all just an act. She's manipulative and cold, unwavering and bossy. It's a really sharp, nuanced portrayal as she bounces back and forth between the sexy girlfriend and the mean one (often within scenes and dialogue). Honestly, it's just so nice to see her sink her teeth into a funny, meaty character like Barbara Sugarman. And she received a Gotham Independent Film Award nomination for Best Actress for her performance which is pretty exciting.

What's even more exciting is that Don Jon isn't some kind of fluke. It's the first of a string of interesting projects that Scarlett Johansson has lined up. Up next is Spike Jonze's sci-fi romance Her, in which Scarlett J voices an operating system named Samantha with whom Joaquin Phoenix falls in love. Reviews of Her are quite positive, with Johansson receiving strong praise for her voice-only performance. It could be pretty interesting to hear her but not see her on the screen.

After that is the Jonathan Glazer alien horror film Under the Skin. She plays an alien who takes on the body of a seductive woman and preys on lonely hitchhikers in Scotland. While that premise does sound a little iffy, Glazer is known for haunting and well-crafted imagery and reviews from the festivals were delightfully divisive. I'm intrigued by it.

Then she'll be starring in Jon Favreau's comedy Chef starring Robert Downey Jr and Luc Besson's action movie Lucy. I don't know much about these projects but I'm sure they'll be fun to watch. If anything, it will be nice to see Johansson in a comedy like Chef or the star of her own action movie.  Of course, Johansson will be featured in both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the Avengers sequel, subtitled Age of Ultron. I'm not too crazy about Johansson being tied down to more superhero movies because they keep her away from cool projects but maybe she enjoys them.

So while Scarlett Johansson has had kind of a weird phase in her career, Don Jon and her other projects suggest that in the next few months, we'll be seeing a lot of her in a variety of cool or at least interesting roles. As a longtime fan and full supporter, I am really excited to see how these films play out and what more success they could bring to Scarlett Johansson.

Her will have a limited release on December 18th, 2013 and then go wide on January 10, 2014. Under the Skin doesn't have a release date yet but my guess would be early next year in February or March. Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens April 4, 2014. Chef will open just a month later on May 9, 2014.  The Avengers: Age of Ultron will come out May 1, 2015. I don't think Lucy has a release date yet but it just started filming. Don Jon is playing in theaters now.